


loser's luck

by miraculousandcute (hellomyoldheart)



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/M, I love these dorks, but they make everything so much harder than it really is, reveal fic with a tiny bit of angst
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-12-19
Updated: 2015-12-19
Packaged: 2018-05-07 15:54:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,627
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5462405
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hellomyoldheart/pseuds/miraculousandcute
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>All it took was a game of Marco Polo for Adrien to figure it out. Or Lando Polo—whatever people call it when it’s played in a park instead of a pool. Either way, it was a stroke of pure luck, which was definitely new to him, especially with how the day had started out.</p>
            </blockquote>





	loser's luck

**Author's Note:**

> man it's been awhile since i've written this much. hope you enjoy! not sure how many chapters there will be and how long it will take to update.

All it took was a game of Marco Polo for Adrien to figure it out. Or Lando Polo—whatever people call it when it’s played in a park instead of a pool. Either way, it was a stroke of pure luck, which was definitely new to him, especially with how the day had started out. He knew it was going to be rough the second he lurched awake to Plagg dropping some camembert on his face. Although maybe the cheese awakening wasn’t so bad since it meant he only slept through his alarm by fifteen minutes instead of god knows how long.

But it got worse. His white button up still had the dirt stain that he completely forgot to clean. His face wash squeezed out a dust speck amount. Plagg was still ranting about his ruined cheese.

Adrien groaned and flopped onto his bed.

“Maybe it’s a good day to stay inside,” he muttered into the duvet. Then his phone buzzed, and he picked it up to find 28 unread messages.

“Wha…?” He gaped at the screen and quickly opened his group chat with Alya, Nino, and Marinette.

Adrien had done his best to make lots of friends when he started public school, but eventually found it easier to join a group instead of make his own. So, he began to hang out with Alya and Marinette two years ago thanks to Nino, and eventually they became pretty close. Their group chat was definitely a highlight of it all.

He felt a little flutter in his chest when he saw the bottom message was from Marinette. _No, stop,_ he scolded himself. _She’s just a friend no matter how sweet and charming and adorable she is._

Maybe once upon a time Adrien could have fantasized more, but Marinette had stopped stuttering around him long ago. (He had finally connected the dots just a week before the stumbling and blushing and flailing around him stopped completely, which he assumed meant she had gotten over her crush. There had been lots of mixed feelings that day.)

 **Marinette:** _ninoooo stopppp ugh. i’m sorry adrien i didn’t have a choice!_

“Didn’t have a choice?” He quickly scrolled up to the top of today’s messages.

 **Marinette:** _guys I’m really so sorry but I won’t be able to go to the pool today. my mom’s friend really needs me to babysit I have no choice!_

 **Alya:** _girl you must be joking your parents knew we were going to the pool today why didn’t they tell your mom’s friend you were busy???_

 **Marinette:** _they had no choice nobody else is available my parents are hosting an event. i’m sorry!!!!_

 **Nino:** _marinette i want you to listen to me carefully. read this next text out loud to yourself so you can hear this phrase you really struggle with._

 **Marinette:** _seriously nino?_

 **Alya:** _it’s too early for this._

There were like fifteen more texts exchanged but he just scrolled down to the bottom to quick let them know he was up. Okay, it was mostly to reassure Marinette that he wasn’t mad at her, would never be mad at her, and then he remembered he still had no idea what was going on.

 **Adrien:** _wait so what’s the plan?_

**Nino:** _hang out in the park so marinette can babysit and we can see her then go to the pool after. your free day has turned into free labor._

**Alya:** _nino you are the worst stop guilt tripping her._

**Marinette:** _just be at the park in thirty minutes or you’ll never see another one of my dad’s croissants. you guys are the best!_

Thus, their attempts to humor a bored, “too-old-for-babysitting” ten-year-old had begun.

“Manon, have you ever heard screamo before?”

Adrien sighed and shook his head. Manon was sandwiched between Nino and Alya on a bench in front of him, and Nino had apparently decided a music lesson was in order. There was movement to his right as Marinette started to stand from her swing, her expression a mix of exasperation and amusement. He shifted a little on his own swing to nudge her with his foot.

“Hey, it’s all good. Alya will stop him if he takes it too far.” Said girl was currently rolling her eyes, but had made no move for the headphones.

Marinette hesitated, but sank back down with a sigh. “Yeah, I guess it’s okay.”

He grinned and kicked her swing with just enough force to move her about a foot. Her hands gripped the chains tighter as she let out a startled laugh, and he may have felt little butterflies when she swung close to him on the rebound.

“Are you trying to start a fight?” she asked, bopping him on the nose when she swung closer again.

“No, more of a competition.”

“Oh? And what’s the competition?”

His eyes roamed the park, stopping at the fountain to his left. Grinning, Adrien slipped out of his swing and moved behind Marinette. Her head was tilted back, watching him, an eyebrow raised.

“A race,” he said and gripped the swing, covering her hands with his. Her eyes widened and he felt her grip tighten.

“Oh?” she repeated.

“Last one to the fountain buys the winner a macaroon. Ready, set, go!” Grasping her hands, he dragged her back and laughed at the face she made before her head snapped forward. She let out a startled squeak, and he let go of her hands to push the small of her back, up, up, until he was able to run out from under her.

The laugh that followed made his steps a little lighter as he ran a short distance towards the fountain and then twirled around to watch her.

Marinette was still laughing as she slid out of her seat mid-air and landed on her feet. Sometimes she did little athletic actions like that that made him wonder if she had been a gymnast when she was younger.

“I think you’re cheating, Adrien!” Every step she took forward he matched moving backward. He couldn’t even try to hide the huge, silly grin on his face.

“You have no proof, Marinette.”

She crossed her arms, huffing as she shook her head at him. The small smile she had made his face feel kind of happily numb. They had both stopped at this point, but Adrien didn’t noticed until Marinette suddenly sprinted towards him. _Element of surprise, huh_ , he thought with approval. _Effective, but not good enough to beat me._

The fountain was close enough that it would take him maybe four seconds to reach if he ran. But right as he spun on his heel, ready to sprint, Marinette yelled.

“It’s Chat Noir!”

He froze and whipped his head around to scan the park. Was it another copy cat? Suddenly, Marinette zipped past him, still on route to the fountain, and Adrien knew he’d been played. But why was that her way of distracting him? No, it was probably just a coincidence. There Marinette was, smile splitting her face as she did a happy dance on the lip of the fountain. She had no idea how right she was.

“You owe me a macaroon!”

Adrien let out a shaky laugh. “You’re devious, you know that?”

She stuck her tongue out at him, but Alya’s voice broke through before he could retaliate.

“Adrien, Marinette, come here. Manon wants to play a game!”

They locked eyes and Marinette hopped down from the fountain, jogging over to him. She gave him a small salute and a wink as she passed. The air seemed to leave his lungs. Wasn’t that how he acted? How Chat Noir acted? He’d met her as Chat Noir, a handful of times in the past couple years, so maybe she was just subconsciously copying him? Adrien slapped his cheek a couple times, as if to wake up. Today really was a bad day if he was starting to get unnecessarily paranoid.

He walked up to the group, and Nino looked up to give him a sly grin. “Having fun, dude?”

Adrien scowled, fighting the part of him that was embarrassed at being caught in his antics. Letting out his playful side was always fun around Marinette—she was the one most likely to go with it, even if it was just rolling her eyes and teasing him about it. He ignored Nino to pay attention to the girls. Manon was still sitting on the bench, Alya and Marinette standing in front of her.

“But that’s not really a game for the park…” Marinette was saying, as Manon crossed her arms and pouted.

“You guys are going to the pool later, so I thought about it, and now I can’t get it out of my head. So let’s play it!”

Alya’s shoulders sagged. She and Marinette shared a look, and they both shrugged.

“Alright, I guess we’ll play.”

Manon grinned. “Great! Marinette goes first.”

“I—what!”

“Should have paid less attention to your boyfriend and more on the kid you’re babysitting!” she yelled gleefully and skipped away.

Oh, god, he was burning. He glanced at Marinette and saw her eyes glued to the ground, face probably as red as his. _At least she wasn’t offended_ , he thought. Just very…surprised. Embarrassed like him? A little happy? He sighed, hands covering his face. This day was mortifying.

“Alright then…” Alya said, and he could practically feel the awkward. “Marinette, cover your eyes and we’ll start.”

She nodded, still a bit pink. “O-one, two, three…”

Nino grabbed his arm and dragged him away. “Come on, you lovesick dork.”

He didn’t even have the energy to argue. “What are we playing again?”

“Marco Polo.”

His eyes found Manon, squeezing herself under a bench across the park. “Marco Polo? In a park?”

Nino shrugged. “I dunno, man. Kids are weird.”

They split up and Adrien ended up creeping back over to the swings. Marinette had her back to it, and he figured she would go that way first, especially since she would hear more that way.

“Um, Marco?”

They all answered, with Manon’s being a bit too excited. This was seriously so weird. Marinette stood still a few moments more, and then she started to move forward. They kept the game up for a good couple minutes. It was easy to dodge her, and the park had a lot more random obstacles than a pool did. Marinette had tripped over a rock at least twice. Adrien had taken his place back on the swing, his “Polos” losing their momentum since it seemed like she was hell bent on avoiding his area. Not once had she turned toward him. His finger doodled ladybugs on his jeans.

“Polo!”

A tiny yelp left him as he looked up to see Manon standing just a few feet away. She waved and glanced over her shoulder. “Polo, polo, polo!”

“Manon, what—?“ he broke off as Manon took one giant step out of his view, and Marinette was suddenly standing over him. One hand covered her eyes, and the other was outstretched going right for his face and oh shit—

“Wait!”

The air rushed out of his lungs when he hit the ground, and his nose stung from Marinette’s hand squishing his face for a brief second before the fall. He heard Manon’s laughter, although it swam around his head in a distant place. He filled his lungs just enough to let out a small moan of pain. Too bad he didn’t have the suit on. At least Plagg was hanging out in the bag he brought so he didn’t have to worry about hurting him.

“Adrien, ohmygodIdidn’tmeanit are you okay?” He opened his eyes to see Marinette kneeling on the ground beside him looking particularly worried and shocked. Her expressions were always so dramatic, but he knew laughing at her crazed eyes would be bad manners right now.

There was a pressure on his chest, and he lifted his head to see her hand gripping his shirt—subconsciously, it seemed, because she was still completely focused on his face. Her other hand hovered around his nose.

“Is your face okay? I totally kinda like high-fived it, and I’m really sorry.”

“Marinette,” he laughed, the adrenaline of the fall oozing out of his limbs. His dropped his head back to the ground. “It’s okay, it takes more than that to ruin such a perfect nose.” He couldn’t help his teasing. Honestly, the whole thing was kinda funny. And so Marinette.

“B-but still! I just—your nose!”

The blush—he had almost missed this shy, stuttering Marinette—spread up her neck and disappeared under the hands now covering her eyes in what he assumed was embarrassment. Before he could stop himself, he poked her cheek just to see if it would get redder.

But he whipped his hand back at the sudden reveal of Marinette’s blue eyes, peeking out from her spread fingers, wide in shock. He grinned, embarrassed he hadn’t been more considerate of her space, and gave a small wave. Her shock turned to something that looked a lot like what he would name done-with-your-shit.

“Sorry, my l—“

His voice died. Wait, what? Had he just?

“I, I mean…” he stuttered and shut his mouth with a loud click.

Looking closer at Marinette’s face, it was like the moment when he realized he loved Ladybug all over again. Overwhelming clarity. There was something so familiar about the mask of her hands, the blue of her eyes, and the red against her skin.

Suddenly his hands were on Marinette’s shoulders, tugging her closer, and her hands moved to brace herself—on his chest. If he was right, then she would be a little pissed because Ladybug required her space. Hell, every person did, but right now she was all he could think about.

The same?

Yes, even up close Marinette had the same eyes; almond shaped, long lashes, with eyes so blue and brilliant they could be the brightest thing in his life.

“Adrien, what—!”

His eyes refocused, and her whole face came into view. There was still a lot of shock. Her eyebrows were drawn together in what he hoped wouldn’t be unrepairable anger, but then her lips—she was biting her lip. Just barely, but it was there. The same shape and natural pink tint. Oh, god, he had to get away now.

He pushed her back and scrambled to get himself off the ground, his legs tangling in the swing. Leaping up, he stared at Marinette, hands still raised and clenched tight.

“You, but, how could that be? Are you—“ Words were not working. Marinette had gotten up as well, and she looked ready to carry him to the hospital. But he wasn’t crazy, and that fall had not hurt him enough to be disoriented.

Adrien fought with himself, until he decided on something simple but effective. The others were starting to join the scene, and he felt all the more rushed. He took a step closer, hands fighting on whether to touch her.

“My Lady?” he whispered.

Marinette’s jaw dropped, and she blinked repeatedly as if to clear her eyes from a haze.

“You figured it out.” Her voice was quiet and in awe—not surprised.

“And you knew.” His Lady had known who he really was, and she still hadn’t revealed herself. His stomach flipped and he felt a numb pain like nausea. She didn’t trust him. “I have to go.”

He stepped around Marinette, leaving a wide gap between them, and ran towards his bag. Plagg let out an angry squawk when he grabbed it and didn’t slow from the run. Luck may have aided him, but all it left was a bitter flame spreading in his chest.


End file.
